Residential Investment Group—doing business as RIG Construction and Roofing—was found to be in violation of the overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in the Hurricane Irma recovery effort. As a result of the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division's investigation into RIG Construction and Roofing, the Winter Haven, Fla., company paid $60,098 in back wages and liquidated damages to 43 employees, according to a news release.
Wage and Hour Division investigators found the roofing company paid employees piece-rate wages, without regard to the number of hours worked. As a result, the employer failed to pay employees overtime for any hours worked beyond the standard 40-hour workweek. RIG Construction and Roofing also failed to maintain daily and weekly records of the number of hours worked by employees, a violation of FLSA's recordkeeping provisions.
“Employers are obligated to pay their employees the wages they have legally earned,” said Wage and Hour Division Tampa, Fla., district director James Schmidt. “Even if employees are paid piece rates, or on salaries, they are typically still due overtime when they work more than 40 hours in a week. The outcome of this investigation serves as a reminder to all employers to review their pay practices to ensure employees are being paid correctly.”
